Archive for November, 2004

Sunday was Finnish Father’s Day, and we spent the afternoon with Eve’s family at her parents’ place in Rastila. On the way there we walked around Vartiokylänlahti, and I took these photos of the season’s first ice forming among the sheltered reed beds. They’re forecasting the first snow in the next few days, so winter is really arriving.

Last Tuesday we had another board games evening, this time at Michael Webster’s. One game we played was Robo Rally, a great favourite of mine. There are reports that a new version will be coming out next spring – something to look forward to!

We were playing in Asukastalo Ankkuri , a youth centre in the Herttoniemi district of Helsinki. The facilities were ideal, with plenty of room for the 40 or so board game players who attended from all over Finland.

I finally got a chance to play Elfenland , which I bought when I first got interested in board games. I’ve only ever played it two-player with Eve, but with five players it was a lot more fun. Other games I played were:

Helcon is a very friendly event – people bring their own games and leave them on the shelves and tables at the sides for others to freely borrow and play. Most games are informal – when people arrive or finish a game, they start wandering around and choosing the next game to play. Once some have agreed on a game, they look around for other free people to join them, so it’s easy to join a new game. I played with lots of different people – if only I could remember their names!

As well as the informal playing, a few tournaments were run, including Carcassonne and a tournament of randomly-selected two-player games. Luckily for me the Carcassonne tournament was played in a light and friendly spirit, and somehow I ended up winning!

Helcon was great fun – if you’re interested in board games, I can strongly recommend attending next year’s. I’ll be there!

Years ago, a group of us used to meet regularly on Wednesdays at William K in Annankatu. Mike made a Yahoo group for reminders; unfortunately he spelt the Finnish name wrong,and hence we have Keskiviiko.

Now Mike’s back in Finland after some time in Geneva, and we’ve started to meet again. Only this time it’s probably just the first Wednesday of the month, and we’re meeting just round the corner from William K. in Black Door.

Present yesterday were Nathalie, me, Mike and Michael. Hopefully more of the old regulars will drop by in the future.